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Comedy from Vienna: “Rickerl – Music is at most a hobby”
Rickerl (Voodoo Jürgens) wants to be a good father for his son Dominik (Ben Winkler). photo
© Alessio M.Schroder/Pandora Film/dpa
The Austrian singer-songwriter Voodoo Jürgens plays his first leading role in “Rickerl – Music is at most a hobby”. The result is a melancholic and emotional comedy with lots of music.
Erich “Rickerl” Bohacek is what you would call a lovable chaotic. Or, depending on your perspective, a ruined existence. A free spirit who finds himself in Vienna makes a living with odd jobs as a gravedigger or sex shop salesman, but would actually rather earn money with his own songs.
And who, above all, wants to be a good father to his six-year-old son, who lives with his mother and her new bourgeois partner (a “stuffed mushroom”). “Rickerl – Music is at most a hobby” is the name of the latest film by the Austrian director and screenwriter Adrian Goiginger (“The Best of All Worlds”, “Märzengrund”).
A melancholic and emotional comedy with a lot of music that sometimes leaves you laughing because what Rickerl experiences sometimes seems so cynical and hopeless: ideally cast with Voodoo Jürgens (40), one of Austria’s most famous singer-songwriters . Even if it is not an autobiographical film about him, his songs with their sometimes darkly humorous lyrics are closely linked to the plot. And with the story about Rickerl and the relationship with his son, which is one thing above all: touching.
Lots of heart and humor
It may be that this misunderstood songwriter sometimes reacts too harshly and harshly because he doesn’t know what to do with his anger and disappointment. And because he thinks he would rather be homeless than be bossed around. But the bottom line is that he is right in what he says. And also with what drives him: giving his boy a different life and a different father-son relationship than what seems to be family tradition. Of course it is true that not every dream comes true. But at least Rickerl manages to pull the ripcord and finally take advantage of an opportunity.
In Adrian Goiginger’s opinion, the term “tragicomedy” best suits his film. In principle, it doesn’t matter what they call him, he told the German Press Agency. “It was important to me to put a lot of heart and humor into it!” Life sometimes makes you laugh and sometimes makes you cry – “and that’s how films can be too! You don’t have to commit too much to it.” Charlie Chaplin showed how close the two things could be.
By the way: All songs – as well as all dialogues – are of course in Viennese dialect. Without him, the special atmosphere in this film and its traditional venues would be unthinkable. For German ears there are subtitles, which are not absolutely necessary, but make it easier to understand. And by the end at the latest, the audience will know what a “Haberer” is – a very special friend…